I have been on vacation this past week. Although wonderful, it is stirring up very sad feelings. I first went to Vermont and saw my cousin Sharon. Sharon was amazing to me when I had my surgery and radiation in 1987, when I was 11 yrs. old. She came to visit me in the hospital all the time, made me cookies, made my face up, etc. Sharon and I grew apart as she aged. Now she is married with two children. And I'm happy that she is loving life.



I also saw my childhood best friend in…

I had such a zest for life when I was little. Probably most children do. I loved monkey bars, running, gymnastics, etc. I was always on the move.Spring and summer were the best. My hands melted in the dirt as I practiced backbends and handsprings in the spring. In the summers my mom and I would go to our apartment pool. I would get these amazing tans and swim and swim some more until I swallowed a pool of water. I never thought about how to use my hands and arms as I practiced gymnastics and…

Before I started It's Just Benign I felt my adult life was mediocre. It seemed like I was cured by the age of 31. I had finished two craniotomies and six weeks of radiation treatment in 1987, at age 11. I really knew that I should have a much better job, friends, etc. But finding all of that was difficult. I had watched the success of my cousins and peers. It is very difficult watching your peers drive up in their fancy cars, wearing the best clothes, etc. and never acknowledging either how…

I am glad to have found other people with the same diagnosis. I have a 2.8 CM Trigeminal Schwannoma lightly pushing in to my brainstem. Right now I have some facial numbness/tingling on the left side that fluctuates depending on a lot of things. It seems like the more stressed I am, the worse it is. It has been recommended that I have stereo-tactice radio-therapy. I recently started a new job as a teacher and live in Oklahoma City, home of Procure. The issue I am having is that I don't feel…

Well I guess it's safe to assume that we all have problems with headaches considering our situations. I take amitriptyline for them. It's been working pretty well since I started about 10 months ago. I've had to increase it a few times but my oncologist says that's normal. Lately I've been getting more headaches. I'm not too worried that it means anything has gotten worse, though the headaches have started to change a little bit this summer. By change I mean the way they feel. They used to…